Ortiz is still recovering in Massachusetts.
ADVERTISEMENTThe man who allegedly paid for the shooting of David Ortiz is on the run, while the man who served as the liaison between the fugitive mastermind and the people who carried out the attack is under arrest, authorities in the Dominican Republic said.
Gabriel Alexander Pérez Vizcaíno is the tenth suspect arrested in the June 9 shooting of David Ortiz. Court documents said a man who is in prison for an unrelated case reached out to Pérez Vizcaíno a week before the shooting, sending him a picture of the target to pass along to the hitmen.
Pérez Vizcaíno allegedly showed the picture to other suspects just minutes before the shooting, which was carried out at a bar in Santo Domingo. Officials have not said if the picture was of Ortiz.
The Dominican Republic Attorney General's Office said Alberto Miguel Rodríguez Mota, a fugitive, paid for the hit.
Authorities have encouraged a second suspect at large, Luis Alfredo Riva Clases, known as "The Surgeon," to turn himself in.
Six people, including the alleged gunman, Rolfi Ferreira-Cruz, 25, also known as Ramon Martinez Perez, were arrested last week. Police said that group was offered almost $8,000 for a coordinated hit on the former Red Sox star, known affectionately as "Big Papi."
Cruz told reporters from jail that Ortiz was not the intended target, according to NBC Boston.
Three more people, Lanny Estefanny Pérez Reyes, José Eduardo Ciprián (Chuki) and Carlos Rafael Álvarez (Carlos Nike), were later arrested for their alleged involvement in the shooting.
Ciprián and Álvarez are already serving prison sentences for other crimes, according to a statement from the attorney general's office.
Ortiz suffered liver damage, and his gallbladder and part of his intestines were removed following the shooting. Jhoel López, a local television host, was injured in the leg by the same bullet that struck Ortiz.
Following the shooting, Ortiz was airlifted from a clinic in his native Dominican Republic to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was still recovering Tuesday.